A Graduated Aiming Circle for Manual Antenna Aiming in Field Operations


During field operations, the antenans are often turned manually.  In the past, I have had some success by placing a protractor around the mast as shown below in ZF8:

 

In the photo above, a pointer was made from wire and taped to the mast.  However, on recent 6m EME DXpeditions, I have used an M2 Portable Mast, which has a 6" x 6" base plate.  I have not been entirely satisfied with my past attempts to provide a calibrated aiming circle for use with this mast.  In order to provide an aiming circle that will fit over the base plate and its anchor pins, I decided to design something that could be made as large as desired.  The concept is shown below:

The original graphic is available at http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/AimingCircle.jpg , and a document including the graphic is available at http://www.bigskyspaces.com/w7gj/Protractor.doc .  As explained on the document page, if blown up 50% in size, it will result iin an inside diameter of 9", which is large enough to fit over even the 6" x 6" base plate I currently use.  The idea is to blow it up 1.5 times and print it out on 11"x17" paper.  Then cut out the center and around the edges, creating only the aiming ring.  This can then be laminated with plastic designed for 11" x 17" paper, and the center is cut out to provide clearance for the mast and/or a base plate.  The outer lamination is cut to a square shape with the aiming circle in the center.  The corners of the laminateions are left intact, to provide places for holes so  the aiming circle can be secured in place to the ground with pins (nails, tent pegs, etc.). 

A pointer can be made from stiff wire taped to the mast; something like a coat hanger provides good material, if you happen to have one handy were you are setting up.  The aiming circle is very lightweight and thin, and can be transported easily along with a laptop computer, or packed in a suitcase.  Happy DXing!


Page last revised on 6 March, 2011